Fishing McAree Lake in Rainy River District, Ontario

• Overview

  The Rainy River District entry here is McAree Lake, in Ontario. The setting is rolling bush. Roughly 9.12 sq km of surface: treat each bay as a water in its own right. The bank runs about 58 km in total, split between open shore and sheltered corners. Size puts it in the front rank of our Rainy River District list. Supplies mean a trip to Ely, 43 km off. For a city, Thunder Bay is 198 km off. There is no boundary nearby to worry about.

• Where to Fish on McAree Lake

  We hold no survey for this water; read the slope of the shoreline instead. Look for the band where the shallows give up and the bottom falls away. A natural lake fishes on cover, and cover here means weed and timber. County-wide records name northern pike, smallmouth bass and yellow perch. County records show the wider picture rather than this one place. McAree Lake responds to conditions more than to tactics.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Average temperature peaks around 19°C in July and bottoms out near -16°C in January. The freeze arrives properly here and holds. Hard water holds through the cold months, breaking up near late April. Averages place the thaw at late April and the freeze at late November. The weeks after the thaw and the ones before the freeze are the strongest. The season on McAree Lake rarely departs from it.

• Tackle & Baits

  Access is not recorded for this water. This is a natural basin, not a dammed one. No slipway, car park or made path shows up nearby in mapping, so treat access as rough. For the bass here, soft plastics worked slow along cover and a spinnerbait for searching do most of the work. Where the road in crosses private land, ask first. Check whether bait restrictions apply before you buy any. Brewer Lake at 2.5 km is the sensible second choice. For McAree Lake in particular, ask before you travel.